^iStl Rc'vieiu of Air Hunter j Lt:fcy, Aiig;. 



That the minority were in the right, we fiippofe few people will 

 doubt, who have taken the trouble to bellow fuitable attention upon the 

 acl in all its bearings and brancb.cs. Indeed, the recent proceedings oi 

 the Comnnifiioners in a ec^eat ineaiiue prove, that tlieir original conduct 

 was radically v\rong. They have mnv allowed the dediidion of one eighth^^ 

 which wa3 at tiril obilinatcly refufed. They have reduced a num])er of 

 valuations upon the ex parte reprefentation of the occupiers ; and latter- 

 ly, in every inftance, have aded with much moderation a;id wifdom. 

 The county of Haddington will now be generally affefled upon the fame 

 principles as are adopted in other dillricts, though we are free to fay 

 that the tax will fall much heavier upon the tenantry all over the ifland, 

 under every limitation, than it does iipon other clalTes. 



Having thus given our opinion concerning the line of condiiCl adopt- 

 ed by the two parties into which the Commiffioners were divided, we 

 come now to notice a paflage of the pamplilet, which at once difplaya 

 the principles which guided the majority. 

 In p. 4. Mr Hunter fays — 



« It mull appear evident to vou, tliat almofl the whole property of 

 this county confifls in land, and that, of courfe, the landlords' and te- 

 nants' taxes afford the great fource from wliich the revenue to be raifed 

 by this tax mull be drawn. There is httle trade, and no manufaclures 

 of any confequence, earned on in this county. If, then, the Commif- 

 fioners fhould overlook this moil ncceiTary, though moil troublefome part 

 of their duty, ' the obtaining a fair and jull valuation of all the farms 

 that have been let and entered to previous to the lail feven years, ' 

 they would be highly culpable, and dcferve fevere reprehenfion, as well 

 for their negledl of the public interell, as for allowing thofe farmers 

 who are in poffeflion of old and beneficial leafes to be exempted from, 

 paying their fair and juil proportion of this tax. Nothing can be more 

 jull than placing them upon the fame footing with thofe farmers who 

 have entered to their leafes within the laft feven years, and are paying a 

 rent adequate to the prefent value of their farms. ' 



That land was the great fource fi-om which the revenue, to be raifed 

 by the Property Ad, was to be drawn in fuch a county as Hadding- 

 ton, is incontellibly true. In- the cafe of proprietors the duty was 

 eaiily afcertained ; they were to pay one fliilling out of evtry twenty 

 received, fo of courfe no millake could arifc, or opprefiion be commit- 

 ted upon them ; becaufe, if rents were not received, proprietors were m 

 no refpe6l liable, uulefs for fuch lands, &c. as remained in their natural 

 poffeflion. In the cafe of occupiers, no fuch diflinctions or bounds are 

 marked out ; and the general rule, when applied to them, is vague, 

 uncertain, and unequal. Even as it is, the rule is in direft oppofition 

 to the principle of the bill, which exprefbly declares, that the tax was 

 to be a five per cent. one.. This point, we are not however now to argue, 

 though we would aflv Mr Hunter, the intelligent author of this letter, 

 if he had granted a leafe, the rent of which was fpecified to be two 

 hundred pounds per annum, payable at two terms, and tliat the writer 



had 



